An inner look we all take, hang onto things we should let rust into dust. Great voice for the image. The song is an exclamation point to your poem. Great write!! Thank you so much for taking part in the challenge!

This is definitely my favorite: “This poem is … the grime under your fingernails.” Scratch, scratch. Poetry-writing should definitely involve a fight, peel off a few layers of skin, get down and dirty. Clean, sweet, well-behaved poems don’t usually grab my attention like the gritty, sharp, shocking ones. Show me the underbelly of a city, and I’ll do a naked dance down its shadiest streets.

Ah, Tylenol just off the rumpled bed sheets. Breakfast of Champions, yes. This whole poem had rusty edges and is an ode to all things Springsteen. His songwriting sensibility, I love, forever. Thanks, Bjorn! Amy